28 Days Later (2003)
89%RT Audience Score: 85%
Awards & Nominations: 10 wins & 32 nominations
Kinetically directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory
28 Days Later is the perfect movie for anyone who loves zombies and a good scare. It’s got everything you could want in a horror flick: a killer virus, survivors trying to start over, and of course, plenty of brain-eating zombies. The opening scene in London is one of the best I’ve ever seen in a horror movie, and the ending is just as intense. Sure, it’s a bit derivative, but who cares when it’s this much fun? If you’re looking for a movie to watch with friends on a dark and stormy night, 28 Days Later is the way to go. Just make sure you have plenty of popcorn and a blanket to hide under!
Production Company(ies)
Hollywood Pictures,
Distributor
Fox
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Badminton House, Gloucestershire, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for strong violence and gore, language and nudity
Year of Release
2003
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.33 : 1 (original ratio)1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 52m
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Language(s):English, Spanish
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Country of origin:United Kingdom
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jun 27, 2003 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 12, 2004
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston, Noah Huntley, directed by Danny Boyle, written by Alex Garland, horror, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Joshua Rothkopf, Cecilia Sayad, Kim Newman, Richard Corliss, Joe Morgenstern, Nathan Rabin, Josh Parham, Brian Eggert, Toussaint Egan, Kristy Strouse, Sean Fennessey, MPAA rating R, produced by Andrew Macdonald, zombie movie, political allegory, animal rights activists, medical research lab, Rage virus, London, bike courier, coma, survivors, cab driver, perilous journey, safety, nudity, language, strong gore, strong violence, Fox, Dolby Stereo, Dolby Digital, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby SR
Worldwide gross: $84,661,434
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $137,225,326
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 877
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 14,964,594
US/Canada gross: $45,064,915
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $73,044,447
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 903
US/Canada opening weekend: $10,061,858
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $16,308,981
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 749
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $8,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $12,966,974
Production budget ranking: 1,562
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $6,982,715
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $117,275,637
ROI to date (est.): 588%
ROI ranking: 218
Noah Huntley – Mark
Naomie Harris – Selena
Brendan Gleeson – Frank
Megan Burns – Hannah
Christopher Eccleston – Henry
Director(s)
Danny Boyle
Writer(s)
Alex Garland
Producer(s)
Andrew Macdonald
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 32 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (234) | Top Critics (59) | Fresh (204) | Rotten (30)
Twenty-eight Days Later is a zombie flick, which makes it my kind of movie-dare I say, our kind of movie. No cinema zombie ever shambles into view without its agenda.
March 16, 2020
Joshua Rothkopf
In These Times
TOP CRITIC
The possibility of renewal suggested by the survivors’ attempts to start over certainly points toward hope. However, the circularity of the movie’s plot is most likely to inspire dismay.
March 22, 2018
Cecilia Sayad
Film Comment Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The best purely British horror/science-fiction film in decades. And the first great apocalypse movie of the new millennium.
September 30, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The movie’s craft makes the dread of a killer virus contagious: viewers may feel they have come down with a case of secondhand SARS or sympathetic monkeypox.
October 6, 2013
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Heedlessly derivative though it may be, 28 Days Later does what it sets out to do and then some — scare us out of our wits, then get us to apply those wits to an uncommonly intelligent and provocative zombie flick.
October 6, 2013
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
Later does a lot of things right, which makes its third-act missteps even more frustrating.
October 6, 2013
Nathan Rabin
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
It’s an exercise that breathes new life into familiar tropes and offers a wildly inventive perspective that’s quite invigorating.
May 26, 2022 | Rating: 9/10
Josh Parham
Next Best Picture
28 Days Later captures how the infrastructure and social order designed to protect humanity create illusions of safety, a notion furthered in the post-9/11 world of increased paranoia and uncertainty.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
28 Days Later is a modern horror classic, and patient zero for zombie horror film’s second renaissance.
October 19, 2021
Toussaint Egan
Polygon
It pays homage while instilling a new way to speak to this way of storytelling. 28 Days Later isn’t the best horror ever, but it manages to spark a fire that still burns nearly 20 years later.
October 14, 2021
Kristy Strouse
Wonderfully Weird and Horrifying
The vanished London society that Cillian Murphy wakes up to at the start of this movie is one of the most brilliantly staged horror movie openings ever, and the survivalist battle that closes it caps a powerful story of disease paranoia.
March 22, 2021
Sean Fennessey
The Ringer
A few ideas are borrowed from George A. Romero, but the brunt of the visuals and story are original and thrilling, though also a touch artsy and marginally poetic.
September 25, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins…
Plot
Animal activists invade a laboratory with the intention of releasing chimpanzees that are undergoing experimentation, infected by a virus -a virus that causes rage. The naive activists ignore the pleas of a scientist to keep the cages locked, with disastrous results. Twenty-eight days later, our protagonist, Jim, wakes up from a coma, alone, in an abandoned hospital. He begins to seek out anyone else to find London is deserted, apparently without a living soul. After finding a church, which had become inhabited by zombie like humans intent on his demise, he runs for his life. Selena and Mark rescue him from the horde and bring him up to date on the mass carnage and horror as all of London tore itself apart. This is a tale of survival and ultimately, heroics, with nice subtext about mankind’s savage nature.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No specific tidbit is given about someone in the cast.
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